The original version of this song I found in a 1899 family songbook I picked up at a thrift store in Long Beach after one of our Nursing Home gigs with the folks from the dog park jam. That was two years ago? The chorus I thought was wonderful- the rest of it stunk. It was written by a guy in the mid-1800s. Although a really sad themed song, it became a fast upbeat fiddle tune and I've learned it was recorded early in the 1900s with bird calls and players trying to make bird songs on their instruments. Anyway, I rewrote the verses which in the original were four lines each, tried to get the band to play it- they weren't having it. Added another verse, played in own my own fast and slow with a variety of roll patterns. Recorded it for the first CD- realized the four line verses weren't working. So here it is. I think I'm done.
An earlier incarnation here: Listen To The Mocking Bird
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